Tales from the Grill
by sparra-music
Summary: A oneshot from a BBQ at Jack's house.  Marked complete even though further oneshots may appear.
1. Cassie's Painting

**Tales from the Grill**

_**Author's note:**_

_This vignette is set right after the The Serpent's Lair (season 2, episode 1). It was inspired by the line about the swings at the end of Singularity (season 1, episode 15): "We never had any of those- in Toronto". I got to thinking about what might or might not also have been "in Toronto". I intend to mark this as complete, even though more chapters may appear about other barbeque incidents, since the barbeques at Jack's house seem to happen fairly regularly._

_..._

_**Cassie's Painting**_

Jack twirled the beer bottle in his fingers before raising it to his lips. _Mmm. Today is practically perfect. We've saved the world, everyone's alive-somehow, and the sun is shining. The temp's in the mid seventies and there's just a tiny breeze. Absolutely perfect for my barbeque. _Jack smiled and then raised the bottle again. _Empty. Rats. Well, there's more in the fridge._ Jack turned and walked back into the house.

Entering the kitchen, he noticed Sam and Cassie standing by the island, looking at some papers.

"And this is the one that I won first prize for," said Cassie, giggling, as Jack opened the fridge door and leaned over.

"Wow. I never saw any of those- in Toronto."

"What?" Jack looked over at Carter, wondering if she'd hit her head or something. _When did Cassie go to Toronto? Or Sam, for that matter?_ The way they were standing and giggling at each other with foolish grins was really making him wonder what could possibly be going on.

"Wanna let me in on the joke?"

Still giggling and beaming, Cassie turned the picture around. The painting covered every square centimeter of the paper in lavish detail. In the middle was an animal that looked vaguely like a really long-necked and shaggy horse with stripes of tan and burnt sienna. But perhaps most interesting was the title across the top: My Alien Horse.

Jack put a hand to his face in attempt to hide his mirth and hold back the chuckles. "And the assignment was?"

"To draw a picture of your first pet."

Jack couldn't help it, he started laughing at that. Loudly. And shaking his head.

"What's this?" asked Daniel, entering the kitchen with Teal'c just behind him.

"This," spluttered Jack, pulling the paper out of Sam's hands and turning to show it to Daniel and Teal'c, still struggling to speak through his laughter, "is a picture of Cassie's first pet."

"But that doesn't look anything like her dog." Daniel replied inanely.

Jack guffawed again, then pointed from Daniel to the picture as he said, "You know, for someone who translates languages for a living, you seem to be having an unusual amount of trouble reading the perfectly legible title at the top." He stopped and started speaking very slowly, "It says quite clearly, 'My Alien Horse.'"

Meanwhile Sam was clutching the countertop for balance as she laughed so hard; the look on Daniel's face after Jack's _Pictures For Dummies_ explanation was truly priceless. Her only regret was that she didn't have a video camera.

Turning to Cassie, he added, "Although I'm not sure how a you managed to get away with submitting that for your assignment, let alone won first prize."

"Well," replied Cassie, "Sandoval was my first pet. I just told my teacher he was imaginary, rather than explaining about Haina. She thought it was very creative."


	2. Causality Loop

**_AN: This one takes place just after the episode _1969_._**

_**Flares**_

The hot dogs had been consumed, the chips and veggies munched on, and the group in Jack's backyard for a barbeque had moved indoors to relax on the couch and chairs with their beers.

"Ahh. This is excellent, Jack." Hammond remarked as he leaned back. "But it doesn't mean that you get out of paying me back."

"Oh, let me take care of that, sir." Jack got up, left the room for a few minutes, and then was back, just in time to hear his CO say, "I was just teasing."

"It's no problem at all though, sir. I got the money from the bank this afternoon. Here you go, General. Five hundred, thirty-nine dollars and fifty cents."

"Jack... you don't really have to pay me back, son. I really was just teasing. That fifty bucks is a small price to pay for getting you back."

Jack grinned. "It's a small price to pay to be back, sir, and one that I'm happy to pay. But since we're talking about our little trip... there's something that's been bothering me since we got home." He paused to take a deep breath.

"General, Carter," Jack stared at each of them for a few seconds. "How on earth could you have known which flares would send us home?"

"Did not Captain Carter already explain that General Hammond would easily be able to look up the required information, O'Neill?" interjected Teal'c.

"She did, she did." Jack nodded. "But there's just one problem with that theory. For the General to be able to look up flares on the opposite side of the sun from the ones that sent us back, he'd have to first know which side they were on when they sent us back. Which he couldn't possibly know until we were already gone. Which means he would have had to write the note before he knew, which... brings me back to my original question. How did you know which flares?"

"It's quite simple, Jack." The general took a long swig of beer and enjoyed the look of frustration on his subordinate's face. "I knew to write:

George. Help them.

August 10, 9:15am

August 11, 6:03pm

because I still had a copy of the original note I had received thirty years earlier. I just had to trust that the other me knew what he was talking about."

Jack was flabbergasted. His mouth hung open for several seconds before Carter spoke up.

"Oh come on, sir, you really shouldn't tease him so. You asked about the rotational difference so many times when you had me do the time travel research that I'm pretty sure you could explain it as well as I could."

"That's true, I probably could explain how the rotational difference affects the time travel... but as Jack pointed out, that wouldn't help me if I didn't know which side of the sun the flares were on that sent you back. I was able tot use that information to double check what was in the note after you left, but I never did figure out how I was supposed to know which side of the sun I needed flares on. Mostly because of the rotational difference- how would I know I wasn't sending you further back in time?

"In the end, I just had to trust myself. At least until you went through the gate. Then I spent three and a half hours on the phone to NASA to make sure that the flare you went through was on the opposite side of the sun. But Jack is entirely right; I didn't know before you left."

"So... " Daniel was still trying to figure it out. "How did the original you know?"

"The original me?"

"Yeah, the first one to send the note. How did he know?" Jack asked, looking at the general again.

"I believe it may have been a causality loop, sir," Carter interjected.

"But wouldn't there have to be a Hammond somewhere who started it?" Jack asked.

"Not necessarily, sir."

"So it was just luck then?" Daniel asked. "Nobody knew before we got back if it would work? Nobody even had a scientific reason to hope that it would?"

"The general thought it would work because it appeared to have worked in the past. I thought it would work because of the general's note."

"But nobody knew?"

"Well, no... the Hammond in the past knew what the Hammond in the future wrote, and the Hammond in the future knew what to write because he'd read the note he was going to send as the Hammond in the past. That's the way a causality loop works- cause and effect get all messed up."

"That's rather... disconcerting," Daniel concluded.

"Yeah," agreed Jack. "Like hearing the splash as your heater falls into the lake while you're ice fishing."


End file.
